Sane details his relationship with Salah, including the 2019 incident

There was hardly a better partnership in Liverpool than Sadio Mane, Roberto Firmino and Mohamed Salah in recent decades. The fearsome trio scored a lot of goals and were Jurgen Klopp‘s most useful weapon in title chasing seasons, which finally ended in a title during the COVID season 2019/20. Mane and Salah won four major trophies, (including that title). Of their 22 goal combinations that season, Salah scored 12 and Mane 10. But there was an incident between the pair in 2019, against Burley when the Egyptian didn‘t pass the ball to the Senegalese, which left usually quiet Mane visible angry.

Years, after, the current Al Nassr forward decided to explain what happened and what followed afterwards.

“Everybody says the same, that there was a rivalry,' he said. 'But I don’t think it’s a bad thing. I’m someone who is quiet, but I’m friendly with everybody in the team. I think Mo is also a very nice guy. I think though, on the pitch, you saw – sometimes he would pass to me, sometimes he wouldn’t pass to me; sometimes he would pass to me, sometimes he wouldn’t pass to me. Only Roberto Firmino was there to share the ball. And I still remember one game against Burnley when I was really, really angry because he didn’t pass to me when he should have. I was really angry after the game. The next day he came up to me. He wanted to talk to me, but he didn’t know how to say it. He still thought I was angry at him because we hadn’t seen each other the night before, we just went home. He said, “Can we talk?” I said, “OK, no problem, we go.” And he said, “You think I didn’t want to pass to you? I didn’t score. Bobby scored. But even when I got the ball, I wasn’t thinking or see you to pass. I just got the ball and I wanted to shoot. But I have nothing against you. And honestly, if I can pass to you and if I see you, I will do.” I said, “No, don’t worry. It passed, it passed. I was angry because I think you can pass to me more with your quality”’ revelaed the Senegalese forward for ‘Rio Ferdinand Presents‘ podcast.

This ‘incident‘, according to Mane, was actually the trigger which got them closer to each other, rather than the other way around.

“I think since that day we became even closer. And sometimes it happens. For me, it wasn’t personal. He just wants to score, score, score. And then I said to him: "Mo, I can help you a lot because I know you want to be a top scorer. I can help you because I don’t have this problem. I’ll help you more" he said.

Sane opens up about a failed Manchester transfer

Mane used this interview to reveal his best partner in Liverpool and it wasn‘t Salah or Firmino.

“People usually talk about the front three – me, Bobby, Salah – but if you see Andy Robertson, you see the overlapping and this desire to win every single ball. It’s just amazing. I think it my best partnership in all my career because we knew each other. It was just natural. I helped him, he helped me. When I had the ball, if we played against one winger which was really tough for him, in the next day in training, we’d say: "Hey, help me, I help you". It’s what he said. I said: “Don’t worry, me, I will be here. I will be here for you. Don’t worry. We’ll catch him, we’ll put him in the pocket.” It was teamwork“ revealed Mane.

ENGLISH PREMIER LEAGUE ROUND 12

Saturday

15.30: (7.00) Burnley (4.30) Chelsea (1.53)

18.00: (1.67) Bournemouth (4.20) West Ham (4.80)

18.00: (1.95) Brighton (3.80) Brentford (3.90)

18.00: (2.15) Fulham (3.35) Sunderland (3.80)

18.00: (1.42) Liverpool (4.85) Nott.Forest (7.00)

18.00: (3.90) Wolverhampton (3.45) Crystal Palace (1.98)

20.30: (3.65) Newcastle (3.85) Man.City (2.00)

Sunday

17.00: (3.05) Leeds (3.25) Aston Villa (2.40)

19.30: (1.45) Arsenal (4.70) Tottenham (8.00)

Monday

23.00: (1.80) Man.Utd. (3.70) Everton (5.00)

****odds are subject to change***